Carson City gas prices jump more than 30 cents

If gasoline pump prices zoomed last week, this week they out-zoomed themselves with the lowest in Carson City at $2.93 per gallon on Monday.

That was the price posted at Costco, 700 Old Clear Creek Road, according to the website GasBuddy.com. It compared with a low last Monday of $2.59 at a different station. There were a dozen stations Monday at or below $2.99, including Costco, but 16 others ranged from a low of $3.05 to a high nearing $3.50. That compared with a high a week earlier in the capital city of $3.09.

The statewide GasBuddy.com survey of 1,130 gasoline outlets completed on Sunday showed the Nevada average increased 21.8 cents per gallon in the past week. The price reached $3.15 a gallon. Meanwhile, nationally the average blipped up a more modest 8.5 cents to reach $2.62 per gallon, or 31 cents a gallon below Carson City’s lowest price on Monday.

“The national average stands at its highest in nearly five months, and has risen 20 days straight,” said Patrick DeHaan, GasBuddy petroleum analyst.

“West Coast refinery issues have continued to weigh on West Coast gasoline prices,” he said, “which have easily risen the fastest in the nation for a second consecutive week.” He said, however, he expects the hike in prices to be scaled back “considerably” this week.

Comparisons show nearly a dozen states saw a double digit gain in average prices over the past week, and the parade included California and Nevada. In fact, California, Nevada, Utah, Alaska, Idaho, Arizona, Oregon, New Mexico and Washington were the nine states not seeing as large a gap as others with price comparisons of the levels in a survey a year ago.